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The biggest body on the court had one of his biggest games on the biggest stage.

Bonduel’s 6-foot-6, 235-pound junior Ryan Westrich was an immovable force on the inside for the top-seeded Bears (28-1), finishing with 20 points and 12 rebounds, and even tossing in a three-pointer as they pulled away from the Hawks in the second half.

Westrich was also a wall on the defensive end for Bonduel, as Prairie (14-16) managed only 15 points in the first half and never got closer than eight points in the second. It was an impressive showing for an athlete known more for the recruiting interest he has been receiving as a defensive lineman for the school’s football team.

“We saw our matchups and I knew that I could handle inside pretty well,” Westrich said of facing the smaller and more inexperienced Hawks. “I’ve noticed that I’m getting a lot better at noticing when guys are trying to double (team) me and kicking it out to our guys for a bunch of threes.”

The Bears, making their first state tournament appearance, struggled from the field early as they hit only one of their nine three-point tries over the first 18 minutes. Race Anvelink scored four of his team’s final six points of the half to give Bonduel a 23-15 advantage at the break.

“I thought our defense was fantastic tonight,” Bonduel coach Duke Copp said. “We made it really hard for them to score and our big guy (Westrich) was pretty tough, and Race over here is a phenomenal defender.”

Bonduel forced 15 turnovers by the young Hawks, who have only two seniors on the roster but went on a postseason run after winning only three of 14 Metro Classic Conference games. The Bears, meanwhile, committed only six turnovers.

“Their defensive game plan was to get real physical with us and we didn’t react real well to it,” Prairie School coach Jason Atanasoff said of the Bears. “I thought they made some huge shots every time we made a little run to cut it to 10 or eight.”

Quinn Wesenberg added 14 points for Bonduel, which lost only to Roncalli this season. Anvelink added 10 points and five steals for the Bears.

Sophomore Dalton Ahlensdorf had nine points to pace the Hawks, who were making their second WIAA state appearance, following a Division 4 runnerup finish in 2021.

The Blugolds, who lost a heartbreaker to the Pointers in last year’s Division 4 semifinals, this time had the joy of moving on with a rally past the defending state champs.

Mineral Point led by as many as 14 points in the first half, as its 1-3-1 defense gave Aquinas all kinds of problems. The Pointers also dominated the paint over the first 18 minutes, outscoring the Blugolds 12-6 and having a 9-2 advantage in points off turnovers.

“We got to halftime and we weren’t as comfortable as we needed to be, really on either side of the ball,” Aquinas coach Brad Reinhart said. “They were getting downhill on us and attacking us, and offensively we weren’t really attacking and getting on bodies like we needed to.”

After trailing 31-23 at the break, Aquinas started attacking the 1-3-1 differently in the second half by going over the top of it, which brought immediate results. Vincent Bahr hit a pair of three-pointers to close the gap to 31-29 in the first 90 seconds of the half, which began the Blugolds’ pursuit of the lead.

That breakthrough didn’t come until 1:56 remained, however, when Finley Strom hit a three to put Aquinas up 52-50 and followed with a twisting layup to give the Blugolds a four-point lead that they never relinquished.

“In the first half we came out a little sluggish,” Strom said. “In the second half, we really rebounded and I felt that we stayed the course.”

Mineral Point got a huge three-pointer from Jaxson Wendhausen at the 1:18 mark to close to within 54-53, but Strom’s two free throws by Aquinas back up by three. Eli Lindsey and Logan Becker traded free throws, with Becker’s miss with seven seconds left giving the Pointers a final opportunity. Wendhausen’s three-point try fell off the rim with a second remaining, however, giving Aquinas the ticket to Saturday afternoon’s championship game.

The Pointers also were hampered somewhat by foul trouble, as 6-4 senior Jake Phillips picked up his fourth foul four minutes into the second half and fouled out with 6:14 left, taking the muscle out of the middle of the zone defense.

“We couldn’t get guys as much rest as we wanted after that, but we have total confidence in Atley (Potterton) in the middle,” Mineral Point coach Dan Burreson said. “One thing that Jake gives us is a physical presence in there. And that’s what we lost when he went out of the game.”

Strom, who averaged 7.4 points per game this year, finished with a team-high 16 for Aquinas, just two short of his season high. Vincent Bahr added 15 points while Trey Bahr had 12 points and a team-high five rebounds.

Drew Aschliman led the Pointers with 16 points, while Wendhausen added 15 and Lindsey 11. The loss also snapped a 17-game Mineral Point winning streak since its only other this season on January 17, against Southwestern.

Heading into Saturday’s Division 4 championship, while Bonduel is seeking a title in its first visit to state, Aquinas is looking for its fifth WIAA state championship in nine visits to the Kohl Center. Its last state title was the Division 3 championship in 2013.